Homemade Cheez-Its

You may or may not know what a Cheez-It is but I give you fair warning that these are so tasty and easy to make that you will be peeking in your refrigerator to see if you have an 8oz block of cheese just asking to be baked into crispy cheddar perfection. That’s what these crackers are- crispy cheddar perfection.

I’m always baking up sweets for holidays and family celebrations so you can imagine my dad’s surprise when I handed him a package of crackers for Father’s Day. He was not only surprised but he was delighted!

You see these crackers are referred to as “Grandpa Crackers” in our home. Four Year Old Foodie gave them this name as a toddler since he rarely sees Grandpa without a box somewhere nearby. The best part is that my son got to use a cool pastry wheel and toothpicks – how awesome is it when your mom lets you touch 2 sharp things in 1 day? He was feeling very proud of himself.

Directions:

Combine cheese, butter, shortening, and salt in the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. The mixture will be crumbly.

Slowly add flour and then the ice water. You may add a few more drops of water to help it come together but be careful not to add too much. You don’t want a wet dough.

Pat the dough into 2 discs and wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes (or longer).

Preheat oven to 375⁰F.

Using parchment paper or a silicone mat roll each disc to 1/8 inch or less and cut into 1 inch squares (a pastry wheel or pizza wheel is easiest). Use a toothpick to punch a hole into the center of each square.

If you have difficulty separating and transferring the crackers onto the baking sheet return the parchment paper/mat to the refrigerator for 10 minutes (while you roll out the 2nd dough disc).

Bake for 10 – 15 minutes or until puffed and browning around the edges. If you pull them out too soon and the crackers don’t have the desired crispiness you want then simply return them to the oven for 2-3 more minutes.

Move crackers to a cooling rack. Makes about 7 dozen crackers.

Notes:

The original recipe calls for 4Tablespoons of butter. I used 1 Tablespoon of shortening to help with the crisping. Whatever method you choose just be sure to monitor those last few minutes of baking as these will burn easily. There is a very fine line between done and crisp and overdone and burnt.

So cool and cute that your little ones could help too! Ooh do you think I could add in tabasco and it would bake alright? I totally want to try to make my own crackers. I need to set aside some time to be home and do this mini project!

I make these with virtually an identical recipe and they really are so addictive arn't they! Dangerously unfilling and light meaning i eat far too many without realising 🙂 mine dont look halllff as pretty as yours though! i might just have to invest in a pastry wheel now..

Love all the ideas your commenters have – like adding the tabasco and you could use a little fish cookie cutter to make these look like goldfish. I can't buy Cheez-Its because we're not able to control ourselves with a whole box. But maybe for our next family get-together I could bake these for special sharing.

O-M-GOODNESS!!! My folks are going to absolutely love these! I'm sure that when school starts again, these will be a favorite lunch snack for my daughter and her friends! You completely rocked this one 🙂

Dang girl, you never seem to stop amazing me. These are easier to make than I would have thought. Although, I need to get one of those cool pastry wheels. And your son did an excellent job with poking the holes!! I love cheez-its too!

Oh god, HEAD EXPLODE.
I saw you post a cheeze-its link on twitter and all I can think now is "OMG NEED."
This look awesome, Katrina…I will have to make time in my life to make these…and then devour them all. Nom nom nom!

Our favorite snack/guilty pleasure is cheez its and a coke. It's like the best sweet/salty combo you've ever had! Since Im an advocate for all things are better when they're homemade, um, I'm fairly certain these would go over REAL well in my house. Great pics too!

I'm dying laughing over the "my mom lets me use sharp things!" caption =) ohmygosh! these look so awesome! I think i'd eat them so fast that i'd have to have a mini cheeze it making factory out of my house 😉

These look delicious! Seeing your kidlet help out reminds me of my kitchen! We have to make gluten-free versions of cheez-its and goldfish crackers so that my son with food allergies can have some "normal" snacks to take to parties and playdates. Yours look amazing.

Katrina – These are sooo adorable! Congrats on Top 9! By the way, I read your interview on Food Lovers Web and loved it. I always wondered how you were able to make these amazing creations with two little ones around … now I understand why baking is easier. Can't keep kids (especially growing boys) hungry when it's mealtime, but I do anyway. Hehe. Hope you're well and having a fantastic summer!

wow I love them!!! I cant believe they are so easy to make at home… I have a question, i dont like to use shortening, do you think is possible if i omit it or should i add more butter? What do you recommend?

These look and sound fantastic!!! I love that your son got to use sharp things, that is too funny! Like all kids, my kids adore cheese cracker, especially goldfish. I am definitely going to have to try this recipe. Do they have to be made with shortening? Do you know of a substitute? Great job and congrats on Top 9!

I'm so happy you like them! I couldn't believe how easy they were as well! The original recipe calls for 4T of butter. You can certainly do this instead of shortening. I only substituted it to give the crackers a bit more crispiness. Follow the link to the ReadyMade Magazine website and you can see the results with all butter. I hope you do make these! I'd love to see a picture or drop me a line if you do!! 🙂

He thought he was big stuff! Why are kids fascinated with toothpicks?! lol The original recipe calls for 4T of butter. You can certainly do this instead of shortening. I only substituted it to give the crackers a bit more crispiness. Follow the link to the ReadyMade Magazine website and you can see the results with all butter. I hope you do make these! I'd love to see a picture or drop me a line if you do!! 🙂

That is all my son's doing – can you believe it? I positioned the ruler for him and he cut each one out and poked the holes in them. Why do kids go ga-ga over toothpicks?! lol Hey – congrats on your Women's Day magazine feature! How awesome was that?!!!

Oh thank you so much! Yes – my growing boys…! These were also in danger of being eaten up. We couldn't stop munching. I finally had to package them up all pretty so that way we couldn't get into them before we gave them to my dad! Thanks for stopping by my Food Lovers Website interview! That was so much fun!

Hi Katrina, Happy 4th of July. Those cheez-its. Wow they look so tasty – I would never have thought to make those myself (that's one of the few things that come out of the box around here) – great job!

Oh Katrina, these are absolutely lovely and spectacular! Your son must have had so much fun helping you make these 🙂 And your dad receiving them! These are definitely saved to make this summer 🙂 Hope you're having a great weekend!

Just made these and they are awesome and super easy to make! I'll be doubling it next time because we LOVE us our cheez-its! It has been a bit of a guilty pleasure for my husband and me since we try really hard to stay away from processed food. Now I am happy to be able to know exactly what is in it! Thanks!

These homemade cheez-its are one of the family recipes that we are dying to try. These sure look fun for kids to get involved in making, too. We bet they are light and and air, in addition to being delicious. We'd like to give this recipe a try using Asiago as well.

This looks amazingly delicious! Question, on step three are you supposed to refridgerate the discs? Because on a later step you mention returning the parchment/mat to the fridge. I was confused since they had not been refrigerated…

As is, the recipe makes about 7 dozen crackers (depending on how small you make them). I don't have the nutritional info here but it wouldn't be difficult to look up with such a short ingredient list. And it took me about 40 minutes to make these…because my 4 year old was "helping." 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!

My father has several health problems that require a very specialized diet., in addition to a stroke has made him near impossible to cook for, never-mind my mother being diabetic and having a list of 'untouchable' foods a mile long. These were a hit with both of them! (nevermind the 'test batch' that my bf and I devoured in a day.. )
Instead of salt I sprinkled in a bit of herbs and a tiny tiny (1/8th tsp?) bit of mustard powder, swapped out the regular cheese with low sodium and ended up reducing the butter to 2tblsp for only 3 total of butter and shortening.

The possibilities with this recipe are truly endless. Most any herb works, onion salt, garlic salt or powder, even whole wheat flour. We're planning on making a few more test batches, but thank you for posting the first GOOD cheese cracker recipe I've been able to find!

I am getting ready to make these today for my husbands fire station (as soon as my son goes down for a nap ha!)…this might be a dumb question but do you separate the crackers before of after baking? Does that make sense?

Katrina I never forgot this recipe – it was the post that wouldn't leave me alone! I knew one day that I'd be making them and I thought you'd like to know that I've made 4 double batches – they are AMAZING! Thank you SO much!

I just made these… I lazily halved the recipe because I only had about four ounces of cheese. I used white cheddar. This is a pretty forgiving recipe. I also experimented with different thicknesses, ranging from about 1/8th inch to probably around a half an inch. The thicker the cut, the more they poofed up while they baked. Even the thickest ones came out really good- flaky layers of cheesy goodness. They were more like cookies or large crackers. Hard to screw these up!

I made these tonight. I broke off a chunk of dough and just left the rest in the freezer. My chunk made 3 dozen. Yeah my toddler and I had them gone in 10 minutes. Thanks so much for sharing.
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I’m glad I googled and found this. I made the 4tbsp butter recipe the other day and my husband said the taste was exactly like cheezits but he and I both agreed they were to moist. And the oven temp was only 350 and I rolled them almost paper thin. I’m glad to see your recipe says 375 I was considering doing that anyways. But never would have thought to use the shortening. Yay so no more trips to the store since I always keep shortening in the cabinet :). I will try this tonight after my fourteen month old goes to bed hahaha. I’m crossing my finger in hope that the shortening fixesy crispiness issue. Because we have been trying to go more toward homemade foods and cheezits are one of my husbands guilty pleasures at the store and to many additives.

Hi Katrina, It’s Ann from the old Cooking Healthy For Me site. I posted a photo when I made these back in 2011 (and credited your post) for my Facebook Throwback Thursday. Someone wanted the recipe…so once again, I’m linking to your AMAZING blog! I hope you are well!